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Scottish Friendly announces Meet Our Authors programme 2011-12

Press release – 18th April 2011

More than 330,000 children from across the UK have experienced some of Britain’s finest authors first hand through Scottish Book Trust’s Meet Our Authors programme, in conjunction with Scottish Friendly.

The Meet our Authors programme includes a series of children’s author events called Authors Live, broadcast live over the internet in conjunction with the BBC, as well as teaching resources for each event, a dedicated Facebook site and many exciting competitions. Now turning the page on its second year, Scottish Book Trust has unveiled a spectacular line up for the 2011-12 programme, culminating in a live broadcast from Francesca Simon, author of the Horrid Henry series on World Book Day in March 2012.

Other authors featuring in this year’s live events include James Mayhew, Andy Stanton, David Almond, Kjartan Poskitt and Scottish Poet Laureate Liz Lochhead.

Last year Scottish Book Trust unveiled four schools which had been selected as flagship schools for the programme: St Paul’s Academy, Dundee; Bowmore Primary School, Argyll & Bute; St Columba’s Primary School, Fife and Kaimes School, Edinburgh. Scottish Book Trust is continuing to develop a range of events and cross curricular activities for the schools around the Meet Our Authors programme while giving the schools the opportunity to showcase all the fantastic work they are doing using the programme to inspire other schools around the country. Read all about their progress on the blog: http://www.scottishbooktrust.com/blog/teacher-in-residence

Calum Bennie, marketing manager for Scottish Friendly said:

The Meet Our Authors programme has been a phenomenal success and it is a delight for us to see how many school children have been touched and inspired by it. Scottish Friendly has been involved in helping bring the world of reading and writing to life for as many children as possible for over a decade now and this state-of-the art programme really makes the most of modern technology in achieving this.

James Mayhew, author and illustrator of the Katie stories and Ella Bella Ballerina books, will kick off the 2011 programme on 12 May. He said:

I'm thrilled to be taking part in the Meet Our Authors programme, and very honoured to be the first illustrator to participate. It's a wonderful project, a really unique way to inspire children to become imaginative and creative writers an artists. I love being in Scotland and I can't wait to return to talk about what inspired me as a child, and to share some stories and paint some pictures... live on camera!

We are delighted to announce such a diverse and high quality programme for this year ranging from events to inspire children to embrace art with National Galleries exhibiting artist James Mayhew to Scotland’s Poet Laureate Liz Lochhead speaking about Burns.

The 2010 campaign featured authors including Julia Donaldson, Eoin Colfer and Jacqueline Donaldson. Children both at home and school were mesmerised by the authors’ tales of how their characters developed as well as anecdotes from their own family life. All events are available to watch again on Scottish Book Trust’s website.